I feel like going for my 1st cultural victory ever as Saladin, on standard continents. I've read about every thread on it but still have a few questions, the more important one being about the number of religions i should get. Here we go:

1. My initial plan is to aim for 3 religions and at least 9 cities, thus 3 cathedrals per cultural city. Would a 4th be worth the trouble as spiritual? I'm confident i'm gonna get hindu/confu/tao - for the religion and other reasons - but i wonder if a detour to judaism early on would be worth it. I dont wanna depend on somebody founding one on my continent.

2. What diff level would you guys recommend? I can win consistently on immortal, whether its continents, pangea, archipelago, space race, domination, whatever (all standard/epic). I had emperor in mind, but maybe cultural is actually a safe/efficient way to win compared to other types?

3. For great artists, i was planning on having a gpp city with theatre, globe theatre (+3 artists) and national epic. That would allow me to keep slavery for a while, for the no upkeep. To what extent do you cultural pros use caste system/artists in other cities usually?

4. Any thoughts on the parthenon as a philosophical civ? I was thinking of building it only if i have marble. Also, i'll never research chemistry.

Feel free to share any thoughts/strats/comments/whatever about cultural victories on emperor+.

Thanks!

To be honest I think cultural victory is the hardest way to win the game. Diplomatic is easy if you suck up to the AI, space race is easy no matter what, domination is easy if you have a good army, and in that case so is conquest. Cultural takes some planning, the highest difficulty I've won with it is Prince (with Isabella). Your plan sounds OK, but here's things I like to do.

1. Obviously, be aggresive with city placement. Put them out there so they cut off your opponents. If you let the AI get culture early on, it becomes almost impossible to win.

2. Another obvious one, get drama!! Theatre is a very good building for culture, much like advanced religious buildings.

3. Once you get to the point where you have theatres and large cities, start
reducing research and increasing culture.

4. Have all of your Great Artists create Great Works on your border cities. These "culture bombs" as they are called are very powerful.

5. Don't be afraid to build wonders. Some people don't like this because it can suck up time. Yes, there are some you don't need to build, but some of the wonders have great culture benifits, especially the music realated ones.

6. This can be risky, but some times it makes since to move your capitol to the border.

Sure these may seem simple, and some even obvious, but it's a guideline that
I like to use.

Good Luck

"He who limps is still walking."

I am trying a cultural game on emperor, hope i didn't bite off more than I can chew.